But perhaps you may be overlooking the fact that many (ok, some) who visit the board seem to be those fairly new to sailing that want to have the best advice possible as to what to not only buy (money, money) but to learn in order to enhance their sailing experiences. Everyone has a different dream, a different vision of where they want their sailing experiences to take them. Some are happy to beat the guy at the next dock in the weekly races, others want to cruise the seas, yet others are happy for the lovely daysails on their lake or just outside their inlet. Yes, good sailors are well prepared for all instances, but while some take to sailing like a duck to water, others need to work at it a bit in order to become good sailors. While this has seemed to have turned into a drawn out discussion of the pros and cons of relying solely on electronics, perhaps those you would have considered fools have taken some of the discussion into account, and will learn more because of it. If you yourself don''t need the information, or have anything to add to the discussion, don''t click on the link.

I remember reading in a most fastenating book, the biography of Tanya Aeibi and the story of her adventures sailing alone around the world. In it she used a sextant and could never get it to come out correct. After a great length of time trying to learn what she was doing wrong, Tanya finaly realized the plastic sextant was wharped. So much for accuracy.
Please forgive the spelling of Tanya''s name.
She is a contributing writer for sailnet.
I also recommend reading her book.

My friend has a plastic sextant while I have an aluminum one made in Russia. We once did a side by side comparison, and the saying, ''you get what you pay for" was proven true once again. The funny thing is, I didn''t pay that much more for the Russian sextant (made in 1972, and which I found on ebay) than he paid for a new top-of-the-line plastic unit. Also, the Russian one came with a scope that can be set to 4X or 8X magnification. Now if only I knew how to read cerilic?! ;^)

While I am new to sailing, here are my thouhgts: I fly (airplanes) and I think this is sort of on the same line......when working towards your private pilots license, the instructor teaches you and makes you use chart navagation. This means that the aeronautical chart''s on your lap, a plotter, and a flight computer (non-electronic), a pencil, and a timer. That is it. Of course he sits in the right seat with his GPS and knows exactly where we are, but that is not the point. Somethings you should just be able to do on your own, without relying on technology. Now that said, I love the uses of GPS and all technology for that matter and will continue to use them in all of my endevors. Comparing with another hobby of mine (motorcycles), they say to "dress for the fall, not for the ride." Plan for the worst (while thinking positively , and always have a backup for your backup. Just my thoughts

>What books would you recomend to read about
>navigation? Also which sextants would you
>consider good quality? Thanks

Well, from one amature to another.... (yes, thats a disclaimer)

So far, the two best resources I''ve found on celestial navigation are in order:

1.) the head of my local YC, who has taken the time to help me out with it a bit, and
2.) Chapter 9 of William F. Buckley jr.''s book "Airborne" in which he pauses in the telling of his transatlantic tail so as to give a 20 page disertation on celestial navigation. Reading this gave me enough of a jump start that I was able to get a rough fix, and from there, I''ve been playing, and bugging the head of my YC.

As for a sextant, I''ve been using a cheap plastic one and been getting fixes which are good enough for me to navigate by.

My best advice would probibly be (and this is the first time I''ve been able to say this in a while) do exactly what I''m doing. Find someone who knows what they''re doing, borrow thier gear, and have them teach you.

If those advocating the jettisoning of sextants in favor of the convenience and accuracy of GPS receivers are going to be consistent in their argument and intellectually honest, they will also have to rip out their magnetic compasses, since they also work on a natural principle that takes skill to master and interpret precisely, and since a GPS unit makes them just as obsolete as a sextant.

I don''t think that is intellectually honest either. While I don''t advocate abandoning traditional navigation techniques, a magnetic compass is a critical part of sailing a course between fixes (GPS or otherwise) and for piloting functions.

By choosing to post the reply above you agree to the rules you agreed to when joining Sailnet.
Click Here to view those rules.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the SailNet Community forums, you must first register. Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.Please note: After entering 3 characters a list of Usernames already in use will appear and the list will disappear once a valid Username is entered.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.